PARLIAMENT The leaking of the letter Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wrote to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) related to gambling kingpin Paul Phua is being investigated by the police and action will be taken against those responsible.

The letter was never meant for public consumption or to be published online, Zahid told the Dewan Rakyat today, and he described the leaking of the letter as an "act without integrity".

"The letter is between me and FBI, not for the public or to be published in the Internet. It's a government document, and no one has access to it. It is an act without integrity (to leak it)," he said.

"The police are looking into this matter and action will be taken against those responsible," he added.

However, Zahid made no mention, nor did he reveal similar letters written by other ministers. He had previously declared that he would raise these other letters in Parliament.

He said according to checks made by the National Registration Department (NRD) at the time of the letter, Phua ( left ) was still a Malaysian citizen and had not applied to give up his citizenship, despite recent reports that he holds a San Marino passport.

'Not one cent'

Zahid reiterated that he never "knew" Phua personally, despite admitting that the latter was on a "gambling boss."

"He is a gambling boss, I agree. But the letter I wrote was in my professional capacity, upon request by his lawyers, and after checks made by police," he said.

"I never defended him. Look at the letter, where in the letter does it say that I am defending him?" he asked.

Ahmad Zahid also said that he never took a single cent from Phua and that he had no personal interest in writing the lettter.

"As an Islamic person, I swear that I never took a single cent from Phua," he said.

Zahid went on to compare his action with that of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who wrote a letter to Indonesian president Joko Widodo to seek the release of two Australian drug smugglers who are on death row in Indonesia.

"Abbott wrote a letter to Joko Widodo for the Australian drug smugglers. Does that mean that he is defending drug smugglers?" he asked.

Zahid's letter to FBI